Rainier ( ) is a

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

cherry A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus ''Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit). Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet '' Prunus avium'' and the sour '' Prunus cerasus''. The na ...

. It was developed in 1952 at

Washington State University Washington State University (WSU, or colloquially Wazzu) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Pullman, Washington, United States. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest Land-grant uni ...

by Harold Fogle, and named after

Mount Rainier Mount Rainier ( ), also known as Tahoma, is a large active stratovolcano in the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest in the United States. The mountain is located in Mount Rainier National Park about south-southeast of Seattle. With an off ...

. It is a cross between the

Bing Bing most often refers to: * Bing Crosby (1903–1977), American singer * Microsoft Bing, a web search engine Bing may also refer to: Food and drink * Bing (bread), a Chinese flatbread * Bing (soft drink), a UK brand * Bing cherry, a varie ...

and

Van A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. There is some variation in the scope of the word across the different English-speaking countries. The smallest vans, microvans, are used for transporting either goods or ...

cultivars. Rainiers are considered a premium type of cherry. They are sweet with a thin skin and thick creamy-yellow flesh. The cherries are susceptible to temperature, wind, and rain, and the flesh is generally more watery than other sweet cherries. Rainiers are grown mainly in the

Northwestern United States The Northwestern United States, also known as the American Northwest or simply the Northwest, is an informal geographic region of the United States. The region consistently includes the states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming ...

region, in the states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming. Washington state is the top producer.

Plant facts

The standard rootstock for the Rainier cherry is the

Mazzard cherry ''Prunus avium'', commonly called wild cherry, sweet cherry or gean is a species of Prunus subg. Cerasus, cherry, a flowering plant in the rose family, Rosaceae. It is native to Eurasia and naturalized elsewhere. It is an ancestor of ''Prunus c ...

, a wild or seedling sweet cherry used as

grafting Grafting or graftage is a horticulture, horticultural technique whereby tissues of plants are joined so as to continue their growth together. The upper part of the combined plant is called the scion () while the lower part is called the roots ...

stock. Mature Rainier trees reach a height of 30 to 35 feet and are widely adaptable to various soil types. Trees should be well spaced to provide maximum sun exposure for individual branches, ensuring fully developed, sweet, ripe fruit at harvest time. Rainiers will produce fruit in 3 to 5 years, with a bloom period in early April. The creamy light yellow to medium yellow-orange fruit develops a red blush and is ready to harvest from late June through early July. Rainier cultivars require pollination. Typical

pollenizers A pollenizer (or polleniser), sometimes pollinizer (or polliniser, see spelling differences), is a plant that provides pollen. The word ''pollinator'' is often used when ''pollenizer'' is more precise. A pollinator is the biotic agent that move ...

are the

, Lapins,

Black Tartarian Black Tartarian (originally ''Ronald's Large Black Heart'') is an heirloom cultivar of cherry. It was brought from Circassia to England in the 1700s by a man named Hugh Ronalds, and from England it was brought to the United States in the 1800s. ...

, and Lambert cultivars. Rainiers grow best in

USDA Zone A hardiness zone is a geographic area defined as having a certain average annual minimum temperature, a factor relevant to the survival of many plants. In some systems other statistics are included in the calculations. The original and most widely ...

s 4–9. It is one of the most cold-hardy sweet cherries.

References

Cherry cultivars {{fruit-stub